Jan 15, 2014

DIY Photo Clipboards

The one I'm sharing today is a tutorial for making my version of some DIY photo clipboards inspired by Liz at Love Grows Wild. I featured Liz's clipboards last August on Friday Finds and thought they might be just the thing for a long narrow wall space above my family room sofa.

I changed the finish on my version of these clipboards to fit the vintage feel of our family room and tie in with this white chalk painted media stand with a dark walnut stained top that's on the opposite wall. I've been wanting to display photographs of the beloved furry members of our family for the longest time, and I think my informal distressed clipboards are just right for some lighthearted four legged artwork.

Following Liz's tutorial, I started with a 1" x 12" x 6' pine board. I cut the length into five 13" pieces to make five clipboards. After sanding, I applied a coat of dark walnut stain and let it dry overnight.

The next day I applied two coats of homemade chalk paint. When the paint was dry I used coarse sandpaper to distress just down to the dark walnut stain. After sanding the boards once more with fine sandpaper I applied a coat of clear furniture wax for protection.

I didn't like the way sawtooth hangers made the clipboards stand out from the wall, so I improvised my own hangers by wrapping some floral wire around two small nails. I measured each hanger carefully to make them all the same. Taking the time to do that made it much easier to hang all the clipboards level with each other on the wall.

I hot glued squares of cardboard over the nails so they wouldn't scratch the walls.

For clips I found these cute miniature clothespins in the craft section at Fred Meyer. I dropped them into some dark walnut stain and then drained them on a rag and wiped them off.

I used a piece of 8"x 10" scrap paper to figure out where I wanted the clothes pins to hold each photo, marked the spot on the board with a pencil line, and then used a thin line of hot glue to apply each one.

I probably should have used wood glue for that step, but I was impatient and didn't want to wait for it to dry. So far, so good, though. The hot glue is holding the clothespins just fine.

I think it took me as long to find and prepare my photographs as it did to prepare the wood. I edited and re-sized each photo to 8" x 10" using Photoshop. If you don't have photo editing software on your computer, I highly recommend PicMonkey.

At this point, my printer ran out of ink. Grrrr... When my sweet husband brought me some home that night, I printed out my photos.

I trimmed the photos on my paper cutter, but scissors will work great too. The last step was the easiest: clipping the photos onto each clipboard.

And here they are! Our little ragamuffins!

Our family room has a high bank of windows on one wall. We love the view of the trees, but they only leave a narrow strip of wall above the sofa on which to hang artwork.

I think our new photo clipboards fit here perfectly.

Every time I walk into the room and see our furry family members looking at me, they make me smile. Each photograph captures their unique personalities; Tucker, my black lab, is smart and he's always watching me attentively to see where I'm going and what I'm doing. It's hard to see here, but there's a big grin behind that lolling tongue. Molly, a golden lab and my oldest grand dog, is loving and gentle. Jake, the West Highland Terrier and my youngest grand dog, is always looking for trouble. He's so darn cute, though, he melts our hearts, and no one can stay annoyed with him for long.

Our pets enrich our lives so much. They really are family members, and we're happy to give them a place on the wall. And in case you're wondering, my daughters' photographs are hanging on another wall in our family room. I haven't forgotten the humans!

I'd love to know if you display photographs of your cherished pets around your home too.

Thanks so much for coming by today, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your week!

Hi Laurel, this project is wonderful and you did an amazing job. Thank you for sharing the directions. It looks so good on your wall and the fur babies are darling. Love that you can change things out when needed. I also have photoscape, picmonkey and adobe illustrator. They are a staple for me.Thank you for sharing. Love this and may have to try it too.Hugs

Hi Laurel. I don't display photographs of my cherished pets but I'm going to try to copy your worderful idea and I hope show it you soon. I have two pets, two dogs (teckel). Thanks for sharing this information. Regards

Wow, I love how these turned out! I posted about the same clipboards by Love Grows Wild, with the intention of making something similar. Now I'm definitely going to have to do it. Thanks for the (additional) inspiration! -Lisa

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Welcome to the North End Loft, located in our 100 year-old cottage in the historic North End of Boise, Idaho. Please join me as I share my adventures in eclectic thrift store renewing, furniture refinishing, decorating, urban gardening, crafting, and living a cozy cottage life on a budget.